Two men were seriously injured, one fatal, when a tractor-trailer unexpectedly pulled out in front of the 2018 Chevrolet Silverado they were traveling in. In a lawsuit filed by attorney Rob Ammons, it is alleged that the manufacturer of the trailer, the manufacturer of the Silverado (General Motors), and the employer and driver of the tractor-trailer are all at fault for the crash in question as well as the injuries suffered by the two men.
In this particular crash, the front driver side portion of the Silverado struck the trailer and became lodged under it. Rob Ammons alleges in the lawsuit that the trailer was defectively designed in that it failed to include side underride guards, a feature proven effective in preventing a passenger vehicle from sliding beneath the side of the trailer. The lawsuit alleges that the manufacturer of the trailer was aware of the statistics that a side underride guard has the potential to reduce injury in about 90% of incidents and they were negligent in choosing to disregard and ignore its obligation to hold the safety of the public paramount.
Additionally, Rob Ammons names General Motors as a defendant due to its decision to not equip the 2018 Silverado with collision avoidance technology. The lawsuit alleges that large vehicle manufacturers have equipped their vehicles with Automatic Emergency Braking, a technology that uses radar and camera data to identify other vehicles, for over a decade and that General Motors was negligent in manufacturing a vehicle without these technologies.
Also named in the lawsuit are the driver of the tractor-trailer as well as its employer, due to driver’s negligence in operating the vehicle and the employer’s failure to supervise and properly train their drivers.
